Review: Drift City 'Mercurial Mirrors' LP

Hot off the heels of their very impressive contribution, Make Believe, from the 2020 Louisville Is For Lovers Valentine's compilation 'Dreaming In Love City' comes the first full length LP by the band Drift City, headed by the elusive J Rivers, titled Mercurial Mirrors.


The solid 8 song LP begins like a fever dream, halfway etherial, halfway ephemeral, as if saddling the ghost of Sparklehorse.

The album's first single, Sailor, sounds as if the ghostly dreampop of David Lynch collided with Johnny Jewel's candy coated synth-pop to create a smoldering Chromatics album at the dark end of the street. J Rivers vocal work evokes a feeling of beautiful agony that resonates throughout the entire LP.


Side B starts with the hopeful, gospel anchored Show Me The Way, before drifting back into twilight with Flock of Birds featuring Louisville legend Chris Rodehoffer's haunting peddle steel, but returns to a more hopeful feeling with So Memory. Unlike side A, which is masterful in its tragic beauty, side B shows the other hand, an uplifting and hopeful -if not a little more country- side to Drift City, like Hope Sandoval wrapped in southern charm.

In all, Mercurial Mirrors is a must for anyone who has kept up with the work of Drift City, or anyone who enjoys their dreampop a little darker and dipped in Kentucky roots.